3 Gold And Silver Miners With Recent Insider Buying

Going back to 1985, the Philadelphia Stock Exchange Gold and Silver Index (XAU) has historically increased substantially in post-election federal years, rising 23.4% on average, as shown below.

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In this article, I will feature three gold and silver miners which have seen insider buying during the past 30 days.

1. Goldcorp (NYSE:GG) is the fastest-growing, lowest-cost senior gold producer, with operations and development projects in politically stable jurisdictions throughout the Americas.

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Insider buys

David Parsons purchased 497 shares on December 31 pursuant to a purchase/ownership plan. David Parsons currently holds 3,993 shares or less than 0.1% of the company. David Parsons is a senior officer of the company.

Anna Tudela purchased 526 shares on December 31 pursuant to a purchase/ownership plan. Anna Tudela currently holds 12,605 shares or less than 0.1% of the company. Anna Tudela is a senior officer of the company.

Jeffrey Wilhoit purchased 581 shares on December 31 pursuant to a purchase/ownership plan. Jeffrey Wilhoit currently holds 2,688 shares or less than 0.1% of the company. Jeffrey Wilhoit is a senior officer of the company.

Mark Ruus purchased 738 shares on December 31 pursuant to a purchase/ownership plan. Mark Ruus currently holds 3,972 shares or less than 0.1% of the company. Mark Ruus is a senior officer of the company.

Colette Rustad purchased 727 shares on December 31 pursuant to a purchase/ownership plan. Colette Rustad currently holds 15,637 shares or less than 0.1% of the company. Colette Rustad is Senior Vice President, Controller.

Raman Randhawa purchased 509 shares on December 31 pursuant to a purchase/ownership plan. Raman Randhawa currently holds 2,913 shares or less than 0.1% of the company.

Richard Orazietti purchased 405 shares on December 31 pursuant to a purchase/ownership plan. Richard Orazietti currently holds 455 shares or less than 0.1% of the company. Richard Orazietti is a senior officer of the company.

Wendy Louie purchased 546 shares on December 31 pursuant to a purchase/ownership plan. Wendy Louie currently holds 11,866 shares or less than 0.1% of the company.

Charles Jeannes purchased 3,424 shares on December 31 pursuant to a purchase/ownership plan. Charles Jeannes currently holds 229,275 shares or less than 0.1% of the company. Charles Jeannes was appointed President and CEO of Goldcorp in December 2008.

Timo Jauristo purchased 1,350 shares on December 31 pursuant to a purchase/ownership plan. Timo Jauristo currently holds 22,872 shares or less than 0.1% of the company. Timo Jauristo is Executive Vice President, Corporate Development.

Rohan Hazelton purchased 733 shares on December 31 pursuant to a purchase/ownership plan. Rohan Hazelton currently holds 8,901 shares or less than 0.1% of the company. Rohan Hazelton is a senior officer of the company.

Lindsay Hall purchased 2,004 shares on December 31 pursuant to a purchase/ownership plan. Lindsay Hall currently holds 102,355 shares or less than 0.1% of the company. Lindsay Hall is Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer of the company.

Paul Farrow purchased 719 shares on December 31 pursuant to a purchase/ownership plan. Paul Farrow currently holds 1,005 shares or less than 0.1% of the company. Paul Farrow is Senior Vice President, People and Safety.

Frank Crema purchased 542 shares on December 31 pursuant to a purchase/ownership plan. Frank Crema currently holds 4,006 shares or less than 0.1% of the company. Frank Crema is a senior officer of the company.

Kathy Chan purchased 494 shares on December 31 pursuant to a purchase/ownership plan. Kathy Chan currently holds 1,074 shares or less than 0.1% of the company. Kathy Chan is a senior officer of the company.

George Burns purchased 480 shares on December 31 pursuant to a purchase/ownership plan. George Burns currently holds 32,546 shares or less than 0.1% of the company. George Burns is Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of the company.

Brent Bergeron purchased 64 shares on December 31 pursuant to a purchase/ownership plan. Brent Bergeron currently holds 403 shares or less than 0.1% of the company. Brent Bergeron is Senior Vice President, Corporate Affairs.

Maryse Belanger purchased 539 shares on December 31 pursuant to a purchase/ownership plan. Maryse Belanger currently holds 1,063 shares or less than 0.1% of the company. Maryse Belanger is a senior officer of the company.

Financials

The company reported the third-quarter financial results on October 25 with the following highlights:

Revenue

$1,538 million

Net income

$498 million

Cash

$894 million

Debt

$771 million

Gold production

592,500 ounces

Outlook

The company's gold production guidance for 2012 is between 2.35 - 2.45 million ounces at total cash costs of between $310 to $340 per ounce of gold on a by-product basis and $625 and $650 per ounce on a co-product basis.

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The gold reserve growth is expected to continue in 2012.

My analysis

There have been 18 different insiders buying and there have not been any insiders selling the shares during the last 30 days. There are four analyst buy ratings, four neutral ratings and 0 sell ratings with a average target price of $54.60. The stock is trading at a P/E ratio of 19.46 and a forward P/E ratio of 12.24. The company has a book value of $27.49 per share and the stock has a 1.52% dividend yield. I would give a 70% chance that the stock is trading higher after 3-6 months.

2. Brigus (BRD) is a growing Canadian gold producer committed to maximizing shareholder value through a strategy of efficient production, targeted exploration and select acquisitions. The company operates the wholly owned Black Fox Mine and Mill in the Timmins Gold District of Ontario, Canada. The Black Fox Complex encompasses the Black Fox Mine, the new Grey Fox property and adjoining properties in the Township of Black River-Matheson, Ontario, Canada. The Black Fox Mine is in production and the Grey Fox Mine, located four kilometres from Black Fox, is in development. Brigus is also advancing the Goldfields Project located near Uranium City, Saskatchewan, Canada, which hosts the Box and Athona gold deposits. In Mexico, Brigus owns the Ixhuatan Project located in the state of Chiapas. In the Dominican Republic, Brigus has signed an agreement to sell its remaining interests in three mineral exploration projects.

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Insider buys

Wade Dawe purchased 15,841 shares on December 31 pursuant to a purchase/ownership plan. Wade Dawe currently holds 2,069,390 shares or 0.9% of the company. Mr. Dawe is the Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President of Brigus Gold.

Daniel Racine purchased 22,629 shares on December 31 pursuant to a purchase/ownership plan. Daniel Racine currently holds 31,610 shares or less than 0.1% of the company. Mr. Racine is Brigus' Chief Operating Officer.

Jon Legatto purchased 3,394 shares on December 31 pursuant to a purchase/ownership plan. Jon Legatto currently holds 22,352 shares or less than 0.1% of the company. Jon Legatto is Chief Financial Officer of the company.

Financials

The company reported the third-quarter financial results on November 12 with the following highlights:

Revenue

$30.2 million

Net income

$8.7 million

Cash

$16.3 million

Debt

$68.6 million

Gold production

19,526 ounces

Outlook

Brigus is forecasting 2012 gold production of 77,000 to 85,000 ounces, at a per ounce cash cost of $775 - $825. The company expects gold production to increase to an annual rate of 90,000 to 100,000 ounces, by the end of 2013.

My analysis

There have been three different insiders buying and there have not been any insiders selling the shares during the last 30 days. There is one analyst buy rating, one neutral rating and 0 sell ratings with a average target price of $2.10. The company has approximately 1.86 million ounces in gold reserves at Black Fox and Goldfields. The stock is trading at a P/E ratio of 11.38 and a forward P/E ratio of 4.79. The company has a book value of $0.98 per share. I believe the stock could have a 50-100% upside potential this year. I have a long position in the stock currently.

3. Excellon's (OTCPK:EXLLF) high-grade silver production drives transformative exploration potential. The company's 100%-owned La Platosa Mine in Durango is Mexico's highest grade silver mine, with lead and zinc by-products making it one of the lowest cash cost silver mines in the country. With 41,000 hectares of exploration ground surrounding the mine, Excellon is focused on discovering the large-tonnage source of the high-grade silver mantos currently in production. Such a discovery has the potential to transform La Platosa into the next major project in Mexico's prolific CRD/silver belt.

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Insider buys

Thor Eaton purchased 967,000 shares on November 29 - December 20 and currently holds 5,023,590 shares or 1.8% of the company. Thor Eaton serves as a director of the company.

Brendan Cahill purchased 21,000 shares on December 14 and currently holds 157,900 shares or less than 0.1% of the company. Mr. Cahill joined Excellon as Executive Vice President in summer 2012 and was appointed to President in November 2012.

Ruby Dhadwar purchased 40,000 shares on October 24 - November 20 and currently holds 40,000 shares or less than 0.1% of the company. Mr. Dhadwar was appointed CFO of the company in August, 2012.

Peter Crossgrove purchased 533,000 shares on August 14 - November 15 and currently holds 1,812,883 shares or 0.7% of the company. Peter Crossgrove is interim CEO of the company.

André Fortier purchased 20,000 shares on August 14 and currently holds 678,000 shares or 0.3% of the company. André Fortier serves as a director of the company.

Financials

The company reported the third-quarter financial results on November 13 with the following highlights:

Revenue

$0.1 million

Net loss

$4.4 million

Cash

$10.7 million

On July 8, 2012 an illegal blockade at the mine halted production for the remainder of the quarter and the mine was on care-and-maintenance resulting in minimal revenues. The company regained access to the mine site on August 29, 2012 and production resumed subsequent to the period on October 16, 2012.

Outlook

Drilling:

Drilling at the Rincon del Caido area of the Platosa property continues to meet with success in the company's search for the high tonnage source of the high grade Platosa mantos. To date, six holes have intersected significant Ag, Pb and Zn hosted by a skarned marble unit typical of source deposits in Mexico and elsewhere. The company plans to continue drill testing the area with four rigs until the end of the year and beyond, as results dictate.

The company's original 2012 Mexican exploration budget was $7.3 million and 30,000 m of drilling was planned for the year, neither of which will be materially affected by the illegal blockade, as drilling resumed with four rigs during the third quarter.

In Canada the company has started a drilling program on its DeSantis gold property in Timmins and expects to complete 5,000 m of drilling by early 2013. A follow up drill program is scheduled for the company's Beschefer Project in northern Quebec in early 2013.

Operations:

Due to the illegal blockade, Excellon projects fourth quarter silver production of 250,000 to 270,000 ounces compared to the previously projected 380,000 to 420,000 ounces. The company's cash costs for the fourth quarter are expected to be $7.00 to $7.50 per ounce, net of by products (based on the metal price assumptions of $31 per ounce of silver), as the company will not be able to fully utilize the cost efficiencies of a full production quarter. The company expects to return to ordinary course net cash costs of $4.25 to $5.00 per ounce of silver during the first quarter of 2013.

Since resuming production at La Platosa on October 16th, the company has produced approximately 5,500 tonnes of ore and has shipped 185 tonnes of concentrate for delivery to port.

The company plans to spend approximately $0.5 million in the fourth quarter to complete a new access road and security fence, which will reduce ore haulage distance and time from the mine to the mill and will increase general mine site security.

The company expects to fund all expenditures for the remainder of 2012 from cash generated from operations at La Platosa, reflecting the robustness of the mine and its operations, and expects to maintain a strong financial position through the remainder of 2012.

My analysis

The stock is currently trading above the 200 day moving average. There have been five different insiders buying and there have not been any insiders selling the shares during the last 6 months. The company has 10% insider ownership and the institutions own 60% of the company. The estimated 2012 silver production is 1.1 million ounces. The company's measured and indicated silver resources are 17.1 million ounces. I am expecting the company to be profitable for the full-year 2012. The stock could have a 50-100% upside potential this year.

Disclosure: I am long BRD. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.

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